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The purpose of this thesis is to explore in depth the historical development of university archaeology museums in Jordan from 1962 to the present day. The development of concepts and perspectives is revealed through an exploration of the operation and deployment of institutional mission, staffing, exhibitions, collection development, architecture and spatial arrangement, outreach and funding. In order to achieve a high resolution study, two case studies were selected: the Archaeology Museum at the University of Jordan/Amman (established 1962), which is the earliest example of this kind of museum in the country, and the Museum of Jordanian Heritage at Yarmouk University/Irbid (established 1984), which is considered the most successful of these museums. These two museums represent different stages in the establishment of museum culture in Jordan. A core method adopted in this research is that of oral history, but it also involves examination of the documentary record and the physical attributes of the museums themselves. This study reveals radically different conceptions of the museum in Jordan in the latter half of the twentieth century. The museum at the University of Jordan embodied the values of the 1960s, which constrained its ambitions and limited its success, while that at Yarmouk University used this earlier model as the antithesis of its vision, shaping a thoroughly modern and outward-looking institution. It did this, in part, by drawing in staff from the older museum. The Yarmouk University Museum, in a country still coming to terms with the museum concept, made itself a modern centre of local and international networks. Indeed, it took on some of the characteristics of a national museum. The factors that made this transformation in museum thinking possible reflect local conditions in Jordan, where the influence of the Royal Family is significant. However, they also reveal the overriding significance of key visionaries and how the country moved from overt Western influence to develop museums which are quintessentially Jordanian.

The Lebanese civil war is, undoubtedly, one of the most protracted civil wars that have ever been witnessed in the last two decades. Many interventions have occurred in Lebanon and most of them were the subject of discussion and legal analysis. Of all these intervention, the Syrian intervention has attracted no academic or scholarly attention whatsoever. It is the main concern of the present thesis to discuss the Lebanese civil war and the legality of the Syrian intervention under the rules of international law. It specifically and exclusively focuses on the Syrian intervention during the years 1975-1976. In evaluating the Syrian intervention, of necessity, the thesis discuses in the first and second chapters the norm of non-intervention, the definition of intervention, and the attitudes and practices of the Superpowers towards the norm of non-intervention. Moreover, it provides a thorough review of the history of Lebanon, the causes of the conflict, and the legal nature of the conflict. Having identified the nature of the Lebanese conflict, the rest of the thesis deals with the legality of the Syrian intervention under the rules of international law which are applicable to internal conflict. The discussion of Syrian intervention is dealt with from four legal perspectives: intervention under the rebel's invitation; humanitarian intervention; Lebanese government's invitation, and the effect of invitation on the Lebanese right to self-determination; and finally the legitimization of Syrian intervention through its inclusion in the peace keeping force of the Arab League. The out come of the discussion establishes the illegality of the Syrian intervention and the ineffectiveness of regional organizations, namely the Arab League, in responding to civil war. It also proves that, so long as the norm of non -intervention is not respected by powerful states, small states will be encouraged to break the norm and undertake intervention; and unless the international community responds positively to the norm of non-intervention, anarchy will be the prevailing norm with serious implications for the survival of mankind in the era of nuclear weapons.